It is known that $ℬ\left({\ell }^p\right)$ is not amenable for p = 1,2,∞, but whether or not $ℬ\left({\ell }^p\right)$ is amenable for p ∈ (1,∞) ∖ 2 is an open problem. We show that, if $ℬ\left({\ell }^p\right)$ is amenable for p ∈ (1,∞), then so are ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(ℬ\left({\ell }^p\right)\right)$ and ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(\left({\ell }^p\right)\right)$. Moreover, if ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(\left({\ell }^p\right)\right)$ is amenable so is ${\ell }^{\infty }(,\left(E\right))$ for any index set and for any infinite-dimensional ${ℒ}^p$-space E; in particular, if ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(\left({\ell }^p\right)\right)$ is amenable for p ∈ (1,∞), then so is ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(\left({\ell }^p\oplus \ell ²\right)\right)$. We show that ${\ell }^{\infty }\left(\left({\ell }^p\oplus \ell ²\right)\right)$ is not amenable for p = 1,∞, but also that our methods fail us if p ∈ (1,∞). Finally, for p ∈ (1,2) and a free ultrafilter over ℕ, we exhibit...